On Monday, the “NBA on NBC” panel reacted to the announcement that Cooper Flagg had won the 2026 Rookie of the Year award. In doing so, Carmelo Anthony had an interesting comment that might have been tongue-in-cheek.
For reasons known only to himself, the Basketball Hall of Famer decided to acknowledge former Mavs GM Nico Harrison, who went from trading Luka Doncic to drafting Flagg in a matter of five months. Whether he was being serious or not, Anthony was generous with his praise for Harrison.
“Shoutout to Nico Harrison for seeing this right here, for understanding this vision, Whatever happened, how it happened, Dallas got something back.”
It’s interesting, of course, that Anthony frames the turn of events in Dallas as part of Harrison’s vision.
Ever since Harrison decided to part ways with Doncic in February 2025, critics have questioned the wisdom of trading away a generational star with MVP and championship potential. Bizarrely, due to circumstances that Harrison had no control over, the Mavericks defied the odds and won the draft lottery in May. This set the stage for Harrison to draft Cooper Flagg as the first overall pick a month later.
Now, Flagg has become the second-youngest Rookie of the Year while Harrison is no longer with the Mavs. Perhaps Anthony was going for a sarcastic tone when he commended Harrison for Dallas’ good fortune of landing a future superstar like Flagg.
How Close Was the Race Between Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel? Former Duke Teammates Figure in Tight Contest for ROTY
Towards the end of the regular season, both Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel got serious consideration to win Rookie of the Year. Interestingly, the tally shows that Flagg and Knueppel were separated by a rather small margin.
As a matter of fact, the 26-point gap between the two former Duke standouts is the second-smallest margin under the current voting format.
Only the ROTY race between Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley in 2022, a race won by Barnes, had an even smaller margin. That year, Barnes won over Mobley by just 15 total points.
